Day 231

The Iguanas are here!!!!

There are 11 of them, so I'm taking names suggestions. Who wants a Panamanian Iguana named after them?!

Also, my new address is:
Sara Mack
Sante Fe
Darien
Panama

And yes, that is a real address. It will get here, so don't let the Post Office give you any slack. Mailing stuff down here is expensive, so I'm not expecting anything!! Send me an email, or save up the cash and come down for a visit! 

Day 220

A lot has been going on since my last post.

The end of July and beginning of August all the volunteer from my group, all 50 something of us, got together for In-Service Training. The idea is that all of the volunteers have been in their sites for three or four months and have gotten a feel for what the specific needs of the community are, so the Peace Corps provides two weeks of training designed to meet these needs.


Training went great. It was an intense two weeks of organic gardening, behavior change, tree grafting, stove making... not to mention more English and Americans than I have had contact with in a long time!

Making tower stoves out of mud and horse poop. They use
less wood and produce almost no smoke.

Grafting mango trees, not sure that this is a skill I will be using
 in my community, but it was interesting to learn about. 

After training, I rushed to the airport with a friend to pick up Jason, who came down to visit for two weeks. We had a good time (at least I did, and I'm pretty sure he did too). We spent the weekend in the city and then headed out to Loma Bonita, where we spent most of the two weeks. We took a little weekend vacation to an island on the north side of Panama. Jason got the real volunteer experience, helping the environmental group in my community plant coffee and build cages for our iguanas.

Me and Sara picking Jason up from the airport as diplomats!

Hanging out at a brewery in the City.

Living the life campo style, reading in the hammock 

Washing his clothes by hand.

Swimming with the Black Christ of Colon.

Planing coffee with the community.

Helping me dig a hole for my compost.

Here come the Iguanas!!